In the 19th century gloves were an indispensable accessory for women. They were worn for day and evening wear. Wealthy women owned many pairs suited to different occasions and carefully chosen to match particular outfits. Strict rules applied to the wearing of gloves. A woman would be considered undressed if she left the house ungloved and it was customary, for instance, to keep gloves on in church, at the theatre and at balls.

In a period of increasing prudery mittens such as these were a pretty and comfortable fashion for keeping the hands covered, allowing the freedom to do needlework or play cards by day and to dine in the evening. Although vital in the 1830s and 40s, they fell out of fashion in the middle of the century, appearing again, less prominently in the 1870s and 80s. Black machine-knitted silk mittens such as the ones in this photograph would have been worn with semi-formal evening dress or when visiting town and were seen as a perfectly acceptable alternative to evening gloves when worn by the very young or the very old. The construction of this pair is strikingly simple. The main body is formed by a tube, allowing a single hole for the four fingers, then an additional piece of machine net forming the 'quirk' or thumb piece is added by hand. The only decoration is provided by a variation in stitch forming 'pointing' on the backs of the hands and borders at the wrist and fingers. As an inexpensive alternative to leather gloves most aristocratic women would have owned dozens of pairs of mittens such as these.